Murray through after Nadal withdraws

Andy Murray advanced to the final of the Miami Masters without hitting a ball after Rafael Nadal withdrew. The Spaniard, who suffers from chronic tendinitis, cited left knee pain.

Every time you play against one of the top guys in the world, it's always a good opportunity to see exactly where your game's at.

I have been working with Ivan now for a couple of months. We worked on a lot of things, certain tactics and stuff that would work against Rafa, Novak, and Roger. It would have been, for me, nice to see whether or not those things were working.

I have done a lot of practicing, a lot of hitting balls this week, but not a lot of match play. It's been quite a strange week. Hopefully the final, whoever it is, is going to be fit and well and we can have a good match.

I guess the one benefit here is that there is a day in between, so I'll have tomorrow to practice with righties. The last of couple days I have been hitting with lefties. I practiced for [30 to] 40 minutes with Paes and Stepanek just to get used to playing righties again.

Murray will meet Novak Djokovic or Juan Monaco in the final on Sunday.

I just came on the internet this minute to do the Euro Lottery, then thought would check here if there was anything new, and then I read that Rafa has withdrawn Disappointed was so looking forward to this match!!

GUTTED was really looking forward to this match, had a good feeling that Andy would have done it. I wonder if Rafa had anyone other than someone from the top four if he would have pulled out??? Had my evening's timetable all planned out, things are not that bad that I will feel compelled to watch the woman's doubles which has been put into fill up the void !!!

I think his knee problems relate to an ongoing issue in his foot. When he was 19, doctors discovered a rare congenital bone problem in the bridge of his left foot. They told him to pack in tennis and he nearly took up pro golf. Then Nike made some specially adapted shoes. But I think that compensating for the foot injury has led to knee problems.

Only a bit sad. Not up to another Wed this soon. I have no stamina. Suspect Nadal knows if Murray is less battered than he is, he hasn't got a chance. Shows they know they have to be 100% to beat him. Will he get the points? He looked so wrecked after Wed. I am watching the Wed match. It's stressful even knowing the outcome...!!! I am then going to enjoy the one against Simon, which reminds me of watching my cat toy with a mouse. Hopefully he will also conserve energy for the final with I assume Djokovic.

Very unladylike, but - SH*T!!. Very glad I popped into an internet cafe to check this out, but I was getting a strong feeling Nadal had pulled out. Was really looking forward to this match which I think Andy had a very good chance of winning, and so I'd like to have seen him get another testing match under his belt before Sunday's final, which will almost certainly be against Djokovic.

So Andy has had two w/os in the same tournament - anyone remember if this has ever happened to a player before?

Very unladylike, but - SH*T!!. Very glad I popped into an internet cafe to check this out, but I was getting a strong feeling Nadal had pulled out. Was really looking forward to this match which I think Andy had a very good chance of winning, and so I'd like to have seen him get another testing match under his belt before Sunday's final, which will almost certainly be against Djokovic.

So Andy has had two w/os in the same tournament - anyone remember if this has ever happened to a player before?

Apparently Sam Stosur in Sydney got 2 walkovers and Amelie cam close in AO 06, some one retired in the 4th or qf, kim in the sf and justine in the final! Not sure about mens tournies.